Fifty Mile Meals

Friday, June 15, 2012

It's been a while. So many things afoot in NFP land, it's hard to keep track. Here's the short list:

Launched a new business - Nourish - vegan/locally focused/healthy food delivery service
Gotten some AWESOME catering gigs, man oh MAN
Learning ridiculous things, like Excel, and how to actually be organized

Life is good. I hope it is for you too.

So, I know I've waxed lovingly on Harmony Valley's burger mix before - how it's the best slider base you'll ever use, how it performs beautifully on a grill, etc etc - but for my next trick, I'd like to point you in the direction of their sausage stuff. Man, is it tasty, and it means you can make this:

That's right kids, those are Sauerkraut Balls. Classic 50's party food. And they're totes vegan. I dare you to make these next time Beer and Nibbles night rolls around and have leftovers.

Prep your sausage by mixing the water and 2 tbl olive oil with the dry mix. Let stand 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a medium saute pan and add the onion. Cook 8-10 minutes, until the onion starts to caramelize. Add sauerkraut and mustard, and stir. Cook for 6-8 minutes, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove to a heat-proof bowl.

In the same pan, add the crumbled sausage mix and cook until just firm, about 4 minutes, turning often. Add to the sauerkraut mix, stir once, and put the bowl in the freezer to chill.

Set up three stations for dredging: a small bowl of egg replacer, a plate with half the flour on it, and another plate with half the breadcrumbs.

Remove sausage mix from the freezer and fold in the cream cheese. Grab a small handful of sausage/cheese mix and dredge it in the flour, rolling it until it becomes a well shaped ball. Dip in the egg replacer, then dredge in the breadcrumbs. Set aside on a clean plate while rolling the remaining mix.

Heat oil to 375f and add sausage balls in batches, 3-4 at a time. Turn them often with a fork while frying to retain their shape. Drain well on paper towels.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

I've been through them all - the crazy chemical miracles that are on the market to help those of us aspiring to be vegan to calm our cravings. But there's the aftertastes - the freaky textures - the plastic-coated tongue - nothing does it for me. The only thing that takes a little of the edge off? Cashew cheese.

I know I've harped on the stuff before, many a time, but you guys should know - my love doth not lessen. CC hits all the importants - crisps under the broiler, has the all important indulgent, fatty flavor and texture, and it's extremely customizable. Making a tex-mex pie? Stick half a jalapeno, a handful of cilantro, and use lime juice rather than lemon for tang whislt pureeing the nuts.

Soak 2/3 cup raw cashews in hot water, just enough to cover, for 20 minutes. Drain half the water off and toss them into the blender, along with the juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 cloves garlic (minced) and pulse until the cashews start to break down. You'll most likely need to get a scraper out to help the puree process along. Chunky texture is good - but not too chunky. If your cheese ends up a little wet - transfer to a small baking sheet and bake in a 350f oven for 10-15, scraping often, until it dries out a bit.

Meanwhile, roast your tomatoes and mushrooms: toss the sliced Romas with a little olive oil, lay out on a baking sheet, and throw them in a 400f oven for 20 minutes or so. Just enough to char them a tiny bit, and dry them out. Same with the mushrooms - you want them to release a little liquid and absorb your hot sauce. Remove veggies and turn the heat to 450f.

Roll or throw your pizza dough into a 12-14 inch round. Brush it with olive oil.

Spread a good heaping tablespoon of cheese over the dough, spreading with a spoon or your fingers. This is the glue layer - it'll help keep your toppings on your pizza. Lay the tomatoes over the pie, attempting not to overlap. Then scatter carrots and celery. Then mushrooms. Now, with your fingers, grab half-handfuls of cashew cheese and gently "throw" it at your pizza, covering the pie as evenly as possible. I love this technique as it allows the cheese to make peaks that brown very nicely as the pie bakes.

Toss that sucker in your preheated oven and bake 10-12, until crust is golden brown and the cashew cheese is starting to toast.

While the pie is baking, rinse your blender out and make the jalapeno puree - add all ingredients to your blender and whirr until combined, adding just enough water to make things go smoothly.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Tired of the same ol' same ol' mushroom loaves? Thyme for something new? In need of some sage advice?

Try this spicy sweet number on: mushrooms, yes, and some tofu - but minced chilis, sweet peas, curry leaves, and good, toasty Garam Masala kill the Fall Flavor Set and make room for Spring. In the middle of February. Yes plz.

I LOOOOVE the parchment paper trick when making vegetable loaves - the lovely browned crust the oven's worked so hard to make comes out in one piece, every time. Just cool for 20 minutes, invert over a platter, and there it is, ready for slicing.

Its the perfect opportunity to play with inclusions, but remember - greenery roasts to brown, so use vegetation with color. Small red pepper flowers work well. Green peas, carrots, and beets work too. Enoki mushrooms keep a light brown shade, so you can laminate your own little 70's Forest Scene on top of your next loaf, if you'd like, as long as you lightly coat your parchment with oil - otherwise, your lovely lamination might stick. And we can't have that!

Preheat the oven to 350f. Cut a piece of parchment paper to fit the loaf pan, sides included. Cut slits in the corner so it will fold flat to the pan's form. Spray a little oil on the bare metal before fitting the parchment inside - it'll help it stay in place.

Reserve a few pieces of red pepper for garnish. In a dry skillet or saute pan, toast the garam masala for 2-3 minutes, until very fragrant. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in the same skillet and add pepper and onion. Cook 5 minutes, until pepper softens and onion is translucent. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring often, for 6-8 minutes, until mushrooms have released their liquid and almost all of it, but not quite, has steamed off.

Remove sauteed veggies to a heatproof bowl.

In a food processor, pulse cashews until they're the texture of large polenta - not powdery, with some chunks still there. Add to warm vegetables. Mix in remaining ingredients and taste for salt - add a teeny bit if need be. The mixture should be relatively dry, but not crumbly - add a little more Earth Balance or even a titch of water if it needs it.

Cut small triangles out of two or three sides of a piece of red pepper with a paring knife. Repeat for as many "flowers" as you'd like.

Arrange red peppers and a stem or two of cilantro on the bottom of the loaf pan, and press 1/2 a cup of the mushroom masala mixture over top, pressing down to keep things stuck in place. Add remaining loaf mixture, pressing down firmly, and flattening top with wet hands once the mix is used up.

Bake for 50 minutes covered, then another 15-20 uncovered, until loaf is browned on top and firm-ish to the touch. Let rest 20 minutes, invert onto a platter, and serve. I'll share the apple-lentil gravy we noshed ours with next week - it was pretty killer.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Few things set my creative cooking brain afire more than a food loving pal's birthday party. I get to make them a prezzie that they eat, is yummy, and they don't have to worry about reading it, or wearing it around me, or mentioning how much they're enjoying it. It just quietly digests and becomes part of them. And we all need more Big Mac Steamed Buns lurking in our cellular structures.

I fully realize how innocent this sucker looks from the outside. It could almost be healthy. What could possibly be in there other than chives, mushrooms, maybe some tempeh, and ginger?

And then wham, you hit Special Sauce, shredded cabbage, and cheese, and a miniature burger, beneath the tomato and pickle. And then you know this ain't your average steamed bun.

Ah, the Lettuce Dilemma: there was no way I was sticking any true lettuce, even Romaine, in there - I figured the tomato would wilt enough for gross factor - so I went with a small head of the youngest, tenderest, sweetest cabbage I could find, sliced very, very thin. Worked decently.

Big Mac Steam-Baked Buns
makes 12

Basic Steamed Bun Dough, a la this recipe (I 2/3rded this recipe, as these buns are larger than average)
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Cut your dough into 12 equal pieces. Keep the other pieces covered while you roll a chunk out on a lightly floured surface to a 6 inch diameter. Place first a patty, then a pickle, then tomato, then scallions, then the cabbage mix (about a tablespoon's worth) in the center of the dough. Wet the edges, and pinch it together in 4 places, then gently grab the gather and twist, creating a slightly swirled closure. Dust with sesame seeds (you might need to wet the top slightly to get them to adhere) and set aside on a lightly-oiled baking sheet.

Repeat until you've created all of your monsters.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until they turn golden-brown. Under bake them slightly - you want a soft and chewy interior once you bite through the outer crust.

If you're prepping these an hour or two ahead of time, cover them with a towel and let them sit on the counter until it's party time.

Ah, the old bowl o' rice trick. Make a batch of jasmine rice, using a teeny bit more water than usual (helps to keep the rice sticky). Oil a small bowl, and press your freshly-cooked rice into it, packing it down. Invert bowl over your serving plate, tap gently, and remove.

Ladle curry around rice mountain, garnish with fried scallions and cilantro, and serve.

You won't miss the cheese. That yellow stuff? Red pepper hummus spiked with turmeric, just a pinch, for color's sake more than flavor's. Ladled over the pile like you would refried beans - warm and thin.

They're all there, those textures, but here, you experience them differently. A little tahini, pickle, falafel this bite, crunchy pita, hot sauce, lettuce, another. Sometimes you get lucky and get it all on one chip. The better you build your pile, the easier that happens.

You guys, I'm sure, have a fav hummus recipe, and although I've done fresh chickpea falafel in the past, this time I used the Fantastic Foods mix, which worked fine. But for ideal Falacho creation, I have two pieces of advice:

Get yee two reusable squeeze bottles - one for hot sauce, the other, tahini. Control your thinner sauces and paint with them, getting a bit of flavor on every chip.

Top your pile with something pretty and delicioso, like a well-aged Kalamata olive. The old "cherry-on-top" trick. Get's 'em every time.

Roast your mushrooms, fennel, garlic (wrapped in foil, with a tsp of oil) and broccoli in the oven at 430f. Use the same roasting pan, toss them with a little oil, and remove them to a plate as they finish cooking (broccoli at 8 minutes or so, mushrooms at 10, fennel then or at 12, garlic at 18-20).

Throw the first 6 ingredients into your blender and puree until very smooth. Remove to a small saucepan and heat over medium low, keeping it warm.

In a large risotto or saute pan, heat your oil over medium-high heat. Add your onion and pepper, and cook 4 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Lower heat to medium-low.

Add your rice and stir to coat with the oil. Toss for 4-5 minutes, until each granule has a translucent "halo" around its edges. Now it is time to add the stock.

2/3 of a cup at a time, dears - stirring constantly. Cashews contain protein, so beware of rice trying to become one with the bottom of your pan. 20-22 minutes ought to get you through most if not all of your stock and see your rice to near perfection - if you need a little more water at the end, don't hesitate to use it.